The 2013 mission follows in the footsteps of a similar initiative last year that generated anticipated additional sales of over $355 million, according to the TEPI website.

The programme also comes during renewed Australian leaning toward Asia as a significant trading partner.

According to the Australia in the Asian Century report, commissioned by Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s government. “the pace and scale of Asia’s rise has been nothing short of staggering”. This has largely been behind what some analysts are calling Australia’s Asia “pivot”.

Demand for Australian commodities surged in the past decade as China and India continued to enjoy economic emergence.

“China is a relatively small but growing market for Australian coal and natural gas. India, on the other hand, is the second biggest importer of Australian coking coal (behind Japan),” the report says.

57 founding members, many of them prominent US allies, will sign into creation the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Monday, the first major global financial instrument independent from the Bretton Woods system.

Representatives of the countries will meet in Beijing on Monday to sign an agreement of the bank, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. All the five BRICS countries are also joining the new infrastructure investment bank.

The agreement on the $100 billion AIIB will then have to be ratified by the parliaments of the founding members, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.

The AIIB is also the first major multilateral development bank in a generation that provides an avenue for China to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest-growing region.